Serie A: Atalanta closing in on leaders, Vlahovic strikes again

Atalanta continued their superb run of form with a Mario Pasalic-inspired 4-0 win over Venezia on Tuesday which moved them to within four points of the Serie A summit, while top scorer Dusan Vlahovic struck again as Fiorentina strolled past Sampdoria.

After an impressive win at Juventus at the weekend, Atalanta won their fourth straight league match thanks to Pasalic’s hat-trick and a Teun Koopmeiners strike to close in on leaders Napoli and move level on 31 points with Inter Milan in third.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s fourth-placed Atalanta are unbeaten in eight in Italy and cannot be discounted from the title race after swatting promoted Venezia aside despite making a raft of changes from Saturday’s win in Turin.

Pasalic made it an uphill battle for the away side when he collected Josip Ilicic’s perfect through ball before sliding in his seventh-minute opener, and the Croat rifled home the second five minutes later.

Venezia never looked like responding from their early setback and Koopmeiners made absolutely sure of the points just before the hour mark, arrowing in his first ever Serie A goal from the edge of the box after a neat exchange of passes between Ilicic, Pasalic and Giuseppe Pezzella.

And Pasalic completed a perfect evening for him and his high-flying team with a simple finish 10 minutes later following dazzling dribbling from Luis Muriel.

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In Florence, Vlahovic extended his lead at the top of the league’s scoring charts with his 12th of the season to put Fiorentina ahead in the 32nd minute after Jose Callejon had levelled Manolo Gabbiadini’s 15th-minute opener for the away side.

Riccardo Sottil made it three just before the break to earn Vincenzo Italiano’s side, who collapsed at Empoli at the weekend, a welcome win which puts them on 24 points in sixth.